Of War and Bubbles: The Pilot Experiment
by LadyTilBug
Summary: Cloud and Vincent walk in on Cid.
1. Chapter 1

Of War and Bubbles: The Pilot Experiment

Cid sighed and glanced at the clock from where he sat on the bridge of his ship. Twelve o'clock, midnight he had been up since midnight the previous day going through paper work, getting everything in order for his next load of cargo. He had been staring at the page in front of him for at least an hour, the words all seemed to be bleeding into one another.

"Christ." He muttered squinting at the paper.

"One hundred kilos of bat dung." He muttered trying to read the document out loud.

He paused for a moment, letting the words sink in.

"Bat dung?"

He reread the line several times, coming out with the same results. He shook his head.

"They are paying good money for their bat crap, who am I to deny 'em."

He signed the bottom of the paper, and made a small note to keep the dung far away from the cabins. He rose to his feet slowly throwing the papers onto the consol.

He stretched his back carefully feeling his joints pop.

"I'm getting to old for this shit." He muttered.

He was one of the oldest members of AVALANCHE, although if any of the members dared to mention the blond pilots age they would get a fist to the face. It wasn't that he was necessarily sensitive about his age as he was enraged when people pried into his personal life.

He slowly made his way down the hall to his cabin, making no sound. He had long ago trained himself how to walk around his ship with out alerting anyone to his presence. It thrilled him to no end when he was able to sneak up on people one of the many simple pleasures of being a Capitan. He walked into his room, grabbing a towel and a change of clothes before heading to the bathroom.

He opened the door to the bathroom and switched on the light, closing the door behind him. As his eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness he saw that the bathroom had not been cleaned out. There were bottles and candles littered around. A pink bottle in the shape of a pony sat on the edge of the tub.

"What the hell?" he muttered.

He cautiously approached the tub, eyeing the bottle. He plucked up the bottle to get a better look at it.

"Bubble man bubble bath, now with twenty percent more bubbles and a fresh lavender scent."

Lavender. That was a flower wasn't it? He popped open the lid and took a deep breath in.

"Not bad." He said with a shrug.

He glanced around the floor. A CD player lay in the corner next to the tub, candles lined around. He leaned down and popped open the CD player and glanced inside. Enya's "Amaranthine" sat inside.

"Nice." He said approvingly, a smile forming on his lips.

Cloud could not sleep. He was prone to nightmares. Considering his past that was not too surprising. He would wake up in a cold sweat the images of the dying or dead staying fresh at the front of his mind. Tonight was no exception. After years of dealing with these dreams, Cloud had found the best way to get over them was to take a nice hot shower. Afterwards he usually was able to return to sleep. He walked to the bathroom door, shaking the knob to test if it was locked. It was not so he pushed it open. It was only once he was inside that he realized some one else was residing in the tub.

"Oh sorry the door was-"

Cloud broke off his eyes finally landing on Cid. All of the words he was planning on saying fled from his mind. He always knew Cid was a very eccentric man but seeing the man sitting in an ocean of bubbles, cigarette hanging from his mouth, humming along to Enya was just too much.

Cid seemed more than content to ignore Cloud's presence and continued to hum along with the song.

"That looks nice." Cloud managed to get out in attempt to break what he felt was an uncomfortable silence.

Cid grunted; smoke spilling out of his nostrils.

Cloud, too stunned to think or move simply stared at the man before him.

"Kid either get in or leave."

Cid's voice broke into his thoughts.

Cloud smiled slightly.

"Uh, no thanks."

Cid smiled, still not looking at Cloud.

"No problem. Then get the fuck out of here before I have to throttle you!"

Cloud raised an eyebrow, his smile growing wider.

"Good night Cid." He said as he turned to leave.

"Night kid." Cid said as Cloud closed the door.

Vincent rarely slept; he had had enough during his thirty years of solitude. When traveling on the Highwind he would often volunteer to take the night shift to watch over the ship. Cid had agreed to this after much persuasion and coarse language. After a while Cid even began to stay up late to keep him company for a few hours while the others had retired for the night. Earlier that evening when he had spoken to Cid the man had mentioned the fact that he had piles of paper work that needed to be done the before the following morning. He figured he could keep his friend company for a few hours, maybe even lighten the load, so he headed to the bridge.

As he turned the corner to head to the bridge he saw Cloud walking towards his room, a huge smile on his face, chuckling to himself. Vincent raised an eyebrow and approached him carefully. Cloud did not seem to register his presence until he was nearly standing in front of him. Cloud looked up sharply and graced Vincent with a rarely seen smile.

"What has put you in such a fine mood at this hour?" Vincent asked.

Cloud's smile grew wider and he inclined his head back in the direction he had come from.

"Go check on Cid." He said simply. He then turned and walked back into his and Tifa's room.

"Good night Vincent."

"Good night."

After making sure that Cloud returned to his room and shut the door Vincent headed down the hallway that lead to the bathroom.

"Cid." Vincent called.

"In here, Vinny!"

Vincent had long ago stopped trying to correct Cid when it came to his name. The more he expressed his dislike for the nickname the more Cid would use it. It was better just to try and ignore it, now it was beginning to grow on him. He opened the door and stepped inside. Nothing could quite prepare him for what he saw. After a few moments of silent observation, which included listening to Cid sing a full song along with Enya, Vincent felt the need to break the silence.

"Cid, what are you doing?"

Cid cracked an eye open to glance at his friend.

"What the hell does it look like?"

Vincent peered into the tub.

"Bubbles, and what appears to be a purple rubber bird."

"Duck."

"Sorry, duck."

Cid nodded his head.

"Want to join me?"

"No."

"You sure, it feels really good."

"Cid I'm sure it is heavenly but there is no way I would ever get in that tub with you."

Cid eyed the tub for a moment thoughtfully.

"Just as well I suppose, don't know where you would sit."

Vincent nodded.

"Good night Cid."

He turned and headed for the door.

"Night Vinny."

Vincent closed the door and headed off to his own room leaving Cid to enjoy his bath in solitude. As he reached his bedroom door he heard Cid's voice one again join in song with that of Enya.


	2. Chapter 2

Cid leaned back against the edge of the tub, head lying on the edge. A smile made its way across his lips as he felt the warm water penetrate his skin relaxing the tense muscles of his back. This was heavenly after the week he had had, flying from city to city with only an hour or two between landing and take off. By the end of the week Cid was sure he had gone threw at least twelve cartoons of cigarettes. When they were finally done Cid had insisted on landing and taking a few days off. No one else had complained. He had booked a room at a local bath house. He now sat immersed in bubbles in one of the three tubs that sat within the bath room.

Cid let a content sigh slip through his lips. He felt something bump into his chest lightly followed by another object. He cracked one eye open lifting his head to pear into the tub curiously. His apple red rubber squid and yellow rubber duck had run into his chest, while moving threw the field of bubbles that covered the waters surface.

"You boys get lonely?" He questioned his little rubber bath buddies.

The squid bobbed in the water, which Cid took to mean yes. He smiled, opening his other eye. He sat up strait in the water, rubbing his neck. He reached a hand out plucking his squid from the water. Cid watched in fascination as a single pink bubble made its way down the top of the squids head down to a tentacle then drooped back down into the water. He stared down at the bubble for a moment watching as it merged with the other bubbles and finally disappeared from his sight.

"You ever wonder what bubbles are?" Cid asked, not bothering to glance over at his companion in the one of the other tubs in the bath house room.

There was a long pause before his companion responded.

"No."

Cid ignored the other's reply and continued to speak.

"When I was little I used to think fairies came into the tub and whipped them up."

Cid said thoughtfully pushing his duck along the bubbles with one hand while the other hand still held his squid.

"Fairies?" A silky baritone voice asked, clearly amused.

"Yah, my mom loved fairies, she collected little statues of them. What about you?"

Cid turned and looked at the man in the other tub. Vincent stared impassively forward. When he felt Cid's eyes upon him he turned to regard the other man.

"I can honestly say that I have never collected fairies."

Cid snorted.

"Not you idiot, I meant what do you think makes bubble?"

Vincent glanced down at the bubbles in the tub for a moment. He blinked then turned back to Cid.

"Soap."

Cid turned and shot the other man a glare.

"That's not very inventive."

Vincent sighed and reclined against the back of the tub.

"You asked for my opinion and you received it. It's not my fault that it was not to your liking."

Cid frowned then turned to glance at the other side of the room, to the occupant of the last tub.

"What do you think?"

The blonde spiky haired man in the other tub shifted slightly, blue eyes staring down at his own bubble covered water. Finally the man gave a shrug.

"I never gave it much thought." Cloud muttered hoping to avoid the question.

Cid snorted.

"Well now's a good time to think about it."

Cloud sighed and turned to give Cid a confused glance.

"I think Vince was on to something."

Cid glanced from Vince to Cloud.

"You guys suck." He said before sinking down in his tub.

Vincent raised an eyebrow, watching the pilot sink below the bubbles. He then glanced at Cloud. Cloud shrugged, leaning dawn against the tub eyes closing.

Vincent shrugged and closed his eyes as well.

"Oh dear God!"

All three of the men opened theirs eyes and glanced at the door way. There stood a very confused Tiffa and a violently giggling Yuffie. The three men had been so absorbed in their own baths that none of them had noticed the bathroom door being opened or the girls entering.

Cloud's face turned red. He lowered himself into the water until all that could be seen were his blonde spikes sticking up among the bubbles. The other two men stared at the new comers with out much emotion. Vincent looked bored while Cid squeaked his squid at the young ladies.

"See I told you." Yuffie said triumphantly.

Tiffa sighed rolling her eyes. She reached into the pocket of her pants and pulled out some money holding it out to Yuffie.

"You were right." She said handing the money off to the younger girl, who eagerly took it.

Tifa walked further until she was standing over Cloud's tub. He slowly surfaced a sheepish expression on his still red face. Bubbles stuck to his chin, reminding Tifa of when she had to give Denzel a bath.

She leaned down and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"Don't stay in there to long." She said sweetly turning back to the door.

"We won't want anything shriveling."

Cid let out a bark of laughter while Cloud re-submerged himself. Vincent rolled his eyes watching as the girls closed the door once again leaving the three men alone.


End file.
